Volatility
How much and how fast a stock's price swings — higher volatility means bigger moves, more opportunity, and more risk.
Volatility describes the size of a stock's typical price swings. High-volatility names move in wide ranges that create opportunity but demand wider stops and smaller position sizes; low-volatility names grind quietly. It's measured with ATR, standard deviation, and Bollinger Band width.
Volatility cycles: quiet, contracting ranges (a squeeze) tend to precede explosive expansion moves, and violent expansion eventually settles back down. Reading where a stock sits in that cycle is central to timing breakouts.
On StockSetups
StockSetups tracks volatility on every signal — ATR%, the Bollinger/TTM squeeze and how long it's been coiling — so you can find names compressing before they expand.
Related terms
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